I noticed some leaves, etc. visible when opening the doors, down in the lower part of the front quarters. I was thinking about how to get it out today while using the leaf blower to blow leaves out of the bed. The truck bed - I have a good roof on the house So I tried it on the crud in the body, but no dice. So I got out the shop vac, set it on 'blow' and put on the reducer and small crevice tool - this is how you do it! The stuff has to be bone dry, but this will blow it out. If you have air, go ahead and use that if you have a high-volume rig. I do, but I didn't feel like getting it out and going through all that. But I would have if the shop vac didn't work. You'll need the shop vac anyway, because you'll have to vacuum out the cab after this exercise. You also need a strong light to check these spaces. I use one of those 'million candle power' pistol-grip lights - one of the handiest things you can have around.

I also can see leaves in the plenum area in the fender where the air pickup of the filter assembly plugs in. I took the filter out and tried everything but couldn't get the leaves out, including a long bent tool trying to scrape them out. The thing is, there was only one small leaf in the filter and I couldn't see any leaves looking through the filter housing, so it's not affecting anything - you can see into the plenum area with the door open, and mine was mostly clear, so there's no air restriction. I'll look at that again next time. My truck is parked under trees at home, not the best situation but although I bought a cover for it I hate messing with it. So if you don't park under trees frequently you might not have the problem, but it's always worth a look. You don't want to have rust starting in there and have to put front quarters on your truck.

I'd suggest making this check every fall after the leaves drop, or maybe every spring where leaves are not a problem. But at least once a year anyway.

 

Great advice!